Leadership and Safety Culture for Scottish House Builders

House building in Scotland and the UK is booming!
The volume of new orders in housing increased 25 % between the first and second quarter of 2016, the highest quarter on quarter increase since 1967 (source- Office of National Statistics).

But while the focus is on the drive to deliver quality homes House Builders are not losing sight of the paramount need for the work to be delivered safely and the crucial role Leadership and Safety Culture play in this.

The Scottish House Builders Health and Safety Forum invited Forum Interactive to deliver a seminar on Leadership and Safety Culture.
Over 150 Directors, Senior Managers and Health and Safety Professionals (including Health &Safety Executive representative) gathered at the EICA in Ratho for the session.

The session
Delegates were presented with a typical busy, high pressure house building environment scenario depicting a scaffolding collapse and fatal injury on the site.
The scenario examined:
• the influence of senior management decisions;
• resultant behaviour/attitudes of the site team and contractors;
• the actions which then contributed to the incident.
They were then invited to use the incident and their own experience to identify key elements in a robust Safety Culture and the critical role Leadership plays in building and maintaining it.

Delegates identified:
• Clear Company Values and Ethos in relation to HSE;
• Relationship interactions which demonstrate Respect, trust and openness;
• Effective communication at all levels;
Among key elements of a genuine and robust Safety Culture.

For Leadership:
• Full and Complete backing from Boards of Directors;
• Visible Leadership- leaders walking their sites;
• Encouraging and Demonstrating effective communication;
• Long term commitments to Coaching, Mentoring and Training.
Delegates were very positively engaged throughout the seminar session and the outputs and responses clearly demonstrate that even in a high pressure, boom environment there is a clear and ongoing commitment to delivering quality work safely.